Theater Latte Da Announces 2021-2022 Season, Celebrating Re-imagined Classics and Impactful New Work

Siena Forest (Mimi) and Darrius Morton (Rodolfo) reprise their roles in La Bohème. Photo by Dan Norman.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2021

Contact: Andrew Leshovsky
andrew@latteda.org
612-767-5646 office

Season 24 kicks off with a Re-Opening Concert followed by the Drama Desk Award-winning docu-musical ALL IS CALM, the highly-anticipated return of Peter Rothstein’s innovative staging of LA BOHÈME, the area premiere of the Tony Award-winning and electrifying musical JELLY’S LAST JAM, and the world premiere musical adaptation of the American courtroom drama TWELVE ANGRY MEN.

(MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL) Theater Latté Da (Peter Rothstein, Artistic Director) today announces its 2021-2022 season. The highly-celebrated company will launch a series of productions that celebrates a continued commitment to presenting original and re-imagined musical theater beginning with a re-opening concert PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ, featuring show-stopping performances by some of the Twin Cities top talent; the return of the Latté Da original docu-musical ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914; the highly-anticipated return of Peter Rothstein’s award-winning staging of Puccini's beloved opera LA BOHÈME; the area premiere of JELLY’S LAST JAM based on the life and music of Jelly Roll Morton; the world premiere musical adaptation of the American courtroom drama TWELVE ANGRY MEN, and continued robust commitment to the development of new musicals and plays-with-music in the company’s annual NEXT FESTIVAL.

“After a difficult year and a half and with so much pain and uncertainty, one thing is clear,” shares Founding Artistic Director Peter Rothstein, “there is great power in coming together, in the communal experience of live performance.  I believe more than ever that the theater can be a vital force to create change; it can celebrate both our similarities and our differences.  It can illuminate truth, instigate hope and spark joy. 

The season kicks off with PUTTIN' UP THE RITZ (November 13 & 14, 2021), the re-opening concerts offering audiences the opportunity to raise a glass to celebrate a return to the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis filled with show-stopping performances from the upcoming season, an insiders look into new works in development during the company’s intensive new works laboratory, NEXT Up, as well as favorites from award-winning Latté Da productions.

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (November 26 – January 2, 2022), the poignant docu-musical about the World War I Christmas truce, will celebrate a return engagement following a National Broadcast on PBS in 2020. This moving ode to peace is written and directed by Peter Rothstein with vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach. The production will feature the talents of the Minneapolis-based cast who starred in the national broadcast and the highly-lauded Off-Broadway run, which earned the 2018 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. The production will be available as a season ticket add-on.

The Western Front, Christmas, 1914. Out of the violence a silence, then a song. A German soldier steps into No Man’s Land singing “Stille Nacht.” Thus begins an extraordinary night of camaraderie, music, peace. A remarkable true story told in the words and songs of the men who lived it. A Theater Latté Da original, this a capella production has become an annual holiday classic and is brought to life by a cast of 11 actor/singers, beautifully blending iconic WWI patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval ballads and Christmas carols. 

In the winter, Theater Latté Da presents the highly-anticipated return of Peter Rothstein’s innovative, award-winning staging of Puccini’s LA BOHÈME (January 20 - February 27, 2022) to the intimate Ritz Theater. The production features orchestrations for Parisian street instruments (accordion, piano, guitar, violin, and clarinet) by Joseph Schlefke. Performed in Italian with English titles projected above the stage. Peter Rothstein directs with music direction by Sonja Thompson. Featuring Corissa Bussian, Siena Forest, Darrius Morton, and David Walton.

Puccini’s LA BOHÈME, the passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, LA BOHÈME is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss and meaning of life in the face of adversity. Rothstein’s production moves the action forward 100 years to the Nazi occupation of Paris.

In the spring, audiences are invited to experience the birth of jazz as we take a journey through the life of legendary musician Jelly Roll Morton in JELLY’S LAST JAM, (March 30 - May 8, 2022). This multiple Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning musical with book by George C. Wolfe with music by Jelly Roll Morton and additional music and musical adaptation by Luther Hendersen and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead will be directed and choreographed by Theater Latte Da’s Associate Artistic Director Kelli Foster Warder and Music Supervisor Sanford Moore. Featuring Andre Shoals.

Born to a Creole family in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, Jelly Roll Morton was a classically trained pianist who was fascinated by the ragtime, blues and jazz sounds happening around him. From the back alleys of New Orleans to the dance halls of Chicago and the clubs of New York, the Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning JELLY'S LAST JAM tells the troubled story of the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz with spectacular dance breaks and a smokin’ jazz score.

Season 24 concludes with the world premiere of TWELVE ANGRY MEN, (June 8 - July 17, 2022) book by David Simpatico (Disney’s High School Musical 1 & 2, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing) music and lyrics by Michael Holland (You’re Gonna Hate This, Hurricane) based on the teleplay “Twelve Angry Men,” by Reginald Rose. Peter Rothstein directs, with music direction by Denise Prosek and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder. Featuring Charlie Clark, Bradley Greenwald, T. Mychael Rambo, and Jon-Michael Reese.

In a small New York City jury room, on "the hottest day of the year," twelve men debate the fate of a young defendant charged with murdering his father. In form, TWELVE ANGRY MEN is a courtroom drama; in purpose, it's a crash course in those passages of the U.S. Constitution that promises defendants a fair trial and the presumption of innocence. Theater Latté Da is thrilled to develop and produce the world premiere of this new American musical adapted from one of America’s greatest dramas. 

Theater Latté Da continues its robust commitment to new work with their NEXT FESTIVAL in Summer 2022. Produced by Elissa Adams, Associate Artistic Director/Director of New Works, the summer festival showcases new works that stretch the boundaries of musical storytelling, where audience members are invited into the ground floor of the creative process. Festival passes are available as a season add-on.

Season tickets are currently on sale; 3-show packages start at $90. Renewing and current season ticket holders may purchase season tickets beginning July 20. Season tickets go on sale to the general public Aug 9. Call the box office at 612-339-3003 or purchase online at Latteda.org. 

SEASON 24 

PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ: A RE-OPENING CELEBRATION (Season Add-on)
November 13, 2021 at 7:30PM
November 14, 2021 at 7:00PM

Curated by Elissa Adams, Kelli Foster Warder, and Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Denise Prosek

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (Season Add-on)

By Peter Rothstein
Vocal Arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach
Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Erick Lichte

November 26 – January 2, 2022

LA BOHÈME
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Guiseppe Giacosa

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music Direction by Sonja Thompson
New Orchestration by Joseph Schlefke

Featuring Corissa Bussian, Siena Forest, Darius Morton, and David Walton

January 20 - February 27, 2022

JELLY’S LAST JAM (Area Premiere)
Book by George C. Wolfe
Music by Jelly Roll Morton
Additional music and musical adaptation by Luther Henderson
Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead

Directed and Choreographed by Kelli Foster Warder
Music Supervisor Sanford Moore

Featuring Andre Shoals

March 30 – May 8, 2022

TWELVE ANGRY MEN (World Premiere)
Adapted from the play by Reginald Rose
Music and lyrics by Michael Holland
Book by David Simpatico

Directed by Peter Rothstein
Music direction by Denise Prosek
Choreography by Kelli Foster Warder

Featuring Charlie Clark, Bradley Greenwald, T. Mychael Rambo, and Jon-Michael Reese

June 8 – July 17, 2022

NEXT FESTIVAL 2022 (Season Add-on)
Summer 2022

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